Film treating apparatus



Dec. 10, 1940. F, LA GRANDE v 2,224,367

FILM TREATING APPARATUS Filed June 11, 1938 5 Sheets-Sheet l ATTORNEYS Dec. 10, 1940. F. LA GRAND; 2,224,357

FILM TREATING APPARATUS Filed June 11, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEYS Dec. 10,- 1940. F. LA GRANDE FILM TREATING APPARATUS s SheetsShe et 3 Filed June 11, 1938 Patented Dec. 10, 1940 UNITED STATES FILM TREATING APPARATUS Frank La Grande, C'oytesville, N. J assignor to Paramount Pictures Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application June 11, 1938, Serial No. 213,231

2 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in continuous film treating apparatus and particularly to a novel form of apparatus for coating the surface of the film with a liquid paste, semi-fluid material or a like substance as it travels through or from an automatic feeding drying cabinet.

In the treatment of a motion picture film from the time after it has been exposed to the camera or in a printing machine to produce a finished negative or positive film, the successive steps of developing, fixing, washing and drying the film are usually accomplished by automatic machinery whereby the film is caused to travel in the form of loops over a series of rollers submerged in the tanks containing the various treating solutions, or is sprayed with such treating solutions in the course of such travel, and after a final washing, the film, in the course of its travel, enters a drying cabinet in which conditioned air is circulated where it again travels in a similar way in the form of loops over a series of rollers until it emerges in a dry and finished condition and is wound upon a reel, ready to be used in a projector if a positive, or for printing purposes if a negative.

It has been found desirable, however, for different purposes, to subject this finished film to further treatment particularly in the case of a positive film such, for instance, as coating the emulsion side of the film with a liquid, paste, semifluid material or a like substance adapted to prolong its life and preserve it from wear in its subsequent use in a projector or for other purposes,

which treatment may also involve the necessity, after the coating has been applied, of again subjecting the film to the drying operation.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide a novel means for use in combination with a drying cabinet whereby the film in the course of its travel through or from a drying cabinet may be given such a coating and returned to the drying cabinet for a further period of time before the same is wound upon the take-up reel.

Further objects of my invention will be apparent from the following description of it and by reference to the accompanying drawings, in Which- Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation of a drying cabinet with the coating apparatus attached thereto.

Fig. 2 is a transverse section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation of the coating chamber generally on the line 33 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a cross sectional detailed View of the coating mechanism taken generally on line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Referring in detail to the drawings, in which similar numbers are used to indicate similar parts, A indicates generally a film drying cabinet in and through which the film l is caused to travel over a series of rollers for a distance and at a speed which will cause each portion of the film as it travels through the cabinet to remain therein a suflicient length of time to be properly dried. Means, not shown, are provided for introducing and circulating a current ofconditioned air within the cabinet to effect the drying of the film.

The cabinet A is preferably rectangular in shape composed of four side walls and a top completely enclosed except for the presence of the necessary openings to allow for the ingress and egress of the film and the conditioned air which is introduced into said cabinet and caused to circulate therein for the purpose of drying the film. The rear wall 2 is preferably of solid construction while the front wall 3 and the side walls 4 and 5 may consist of panels of glass held within frames to permit a full view of the film and the rollers over which it travels. A number of the side panels, however, are hinged and form doors through which ready access may be had to the interior of the cabinet for the purpose of threading the film over the rollers, repairing broken film, etc. The fioor of the room in which the cabinet is installed forms the floor of the cabinet.

Within the cabinet and resting on the floor is a supporting frame preferably of steel and of sufficient size and strength to support the various rollers and other mechanism whereby the film is caused to travel in a series of spiral loops back and forth transversely of the cabinet and progressively from the rear to the front of the cabinet. This frame consists of upright members 6 and 1, longitudinal cross members 8, 9, l0, ll, I2 and I3, which are supported at their rear by the rear wall 2 of the cabinet.- A transtached to the shaft 20. Said gears, not shown in the drawings, are enclosed in housings such as 2|. Sets of flanged rollers 22, 23 and 24 are rigidly attached contiguous to each other to the said transverse shafts I5, 16 and I! and are driven by said shafts. Directly above each of said sets of driven rollers and in substantial vertical alignment therewith is a set of idle rollers 25, 26 and 21 likewise flanged, mounted on the shafts 28, 29 and 30 and free to revolve thereon, the ends of said shafts being held secure in brackets such as 3| mounted on the horizontal cross members l and [3.

In line with the end roller on the shaft 28 and supported a distance above it by the bracket 32 mounted on the cross member l3 intermediate the sets of rollers 25 and 26 is an idle roller 33 which is also provided with flanges and serves to guide the film from said end roller to the end roller of the set on the shaft 29 in line therewith. A similar guide roller [8 serves to guide the film from the roller at the other end of the shaft 26 to the roller on the same end of the shaft 36.

Other sets of idle rollers 34, 35 and 36 which are of much larger diameter than the rollers heretofore described are mounted on the shafts 31, 33 and 39 and are free to revolve thereon. The ends of said shafts 31, 3B and 39 are rigidly secured to the longitudinal cross members 9 and I2. These large rollers perform the function of keeping the ascending and descending portions of the film in its travel between the upper and lower sets of rollers spaced apart and out of contact with each other.

46 is a bracket mounted on the longitudinal cross member ID to which is securely attached the stud 4| parallel to and substantially in vertical alignment with the shaft 36 which said stud 40 carries the flanged idle roller 42 above and di- 45 the spacer rollers 36.

rectly in line with one of the idle rollers on the shaft 36.

43 is a flanged guide roller positioned in line with the upper guide roller 42 and forward of Said roller 43 revolves freely upon the stud 44 mounted in the upper end of the bracket 45 which in turn is attached to the cross member I4. Said guide rollers 42 and 43 serve to intercept the film in its spiral travel from one side to the other of the cabinet over the upper and lower rollers on the shafts I1 and 33, respectively, and guide it through an opening 46 in the front wall of the cabinet A to the ad justable guide roller 41 within the coating chamber B. Said guide roller 43 is positioned at a level just sufliciently high above that of the roller 41 to provide a clear path for the film in its line of travel to the adjustable guide roller 47.

The coating chamber B is substantially square 60 in shape, the two sides, front end and top of which are composed of glass panels held in the rabbeted edges of the corner pieces 46 by the strips 49. The bottom 56 of the coating chamber slants downward from its front and rear ends and is provided with an opening therein covered by a cylindrical cap attached thereto which is closed at itslower end and provides a well. to-receive the arm 52. The support for the coating mechanism consists of a metal casting 0 having a base portion 53 securely attached by bolts or otherwise to the transverse cross member l4 within the drying cabinet andv two horizontal side members 54 and, 55 extending horizontally and at right angles to said base portion 75 fromthe drying cabinet into the coating chamber. The guide roller 41 revolves freely upon the stud 56 mounted in the end of the bracket 51, which at its other end is formed with a shoulder plate 58 and the downwardly extending arm 52. Said arm 52 is bifurcated along the greater portion of its length and the inside surface of one branch thereof is formed into a rack 59 which engages with the teeth of the pinion 66. Said pinion 60 and the worm gear 5| are fixed at opposite ends of the shaft 62 which is journaled in the plate 63 attached by the screws 64 to the horizontal side member 54 of the casting. The collar 65 serves to prevent end play of the shaft 62 in the said side plate 63. Said worm gear 6| is driven by the worm 66 through a train of gears 61 supported by the bracket 68 by means of the shaft 69 and the crank 70 attached thereto located outside the front end of the coating chamber B.

A recess in the horizontal side member 54 conforming to the cross sectional size and shape of the arm 52 and extending in a slanting direction from the top to the bottom of the said horizontal side member 54, together with the plate 63 attached thereto provides guiding means whereby the arm 52 with the roller 41 and supporting bracket 5'! may be moved up and down by the revolution of the pinion 60. H is a coating roller the outside face of which is covered by several thicknesses of cloth or other absorbent material 12, the under layers of which conform to the width of the face of the roller and, the outer layer is of sufficient width to extend around the underside of the face of the roller where it is securely held by the spring rings 13 in grooves extending around the innerside of the said roller. If it is desired to coat only a portion of the width of the film, as, for instance, only the margins thereof adjacent the sprocket holes, the outside face of the roller 'H may be formed with a channel of the proper width and depth into which the facing material 12 may be depressed so as not to come in contact with the central portion of the film. Said roller is keyed to the shaft 14' which shaft is journaled near one end in a semi-circular bearing in the horizontal side member 55 and is provide-d at its other end with a threaded portion of reduced diameter whereby it may be screwed in to a tapped bore in the end of the shaft as at "which is journaled in the horizontal side member 54 to form a continuous shaft. Near the other end of the shaft 15 is a pin '11 extending therethrough affording convenient means whereby the shaft 14 may be unscrewed from the shaft 15 and the coating roller ll lifted out. On the outside end of the shaft 15 and locked securely thereon by the nut 18 is the spiral gear 19- in mesh with and driven by the spiral gear 86 which is locked on the end of the horizontal shaft 8| by the nut 82. The other end of the shaft 8| is provided with a spiral gear 83in mesh with the spiral gear 84 locked on the end of the transverse shaft 85 and driven by said shaft. Said shaft 85 is in turn driven through a pair of spiral gears 86 by the vertical shaft 8].. The lower end of the vertical shaft is provided with a gear 86 driven by a worm gear 89 on the shaft 90 and located in the housing 9|. Said shaft 90 is connected at one end to the source of power, which may be an electric motor, and at its other end. it is connected by the coupling 92 to the shaft for driving the lower sets of rollers 22, 23 and 24.

Supported by the web 93 on the upper side of the horizontal side member 54 is a' flanged guide roller. 94, which revolves freely "upon .the stud 95 which roller is in line. with the coating rollers II and the guiding rollers 43 and 41, with the lowest point on the periphery of said roller 94 substantially below the highest point on the periphery of the coating roller 'II. Within the drying cabinet A and attached to the transverse cross member I4 is an adjustable supporting bracket for the guide roller 96 which supporting bracket consists of a rigid portion 91 attached to' the transverse cross member I4 and an adjustable arm 98 pivotally connected to the other end of said rigid portion 91 and adapted to swing in a vertical plane about the pivot 99. Said adjustable arm 98 is provided at its lower end with a slot through which by means of a set screw 99a threaded into the rigid portion may be locked in various positions in its movement about the pivot 99 so that the film may be properly guided by the guide roller 96 to one of the upper rollers on the shaft 39.

Positioned between the horizontal side members 54 and 55 and supported thereby is the trough I99 having a rounded bottom, as shown by the broken line I9I (Fig. 3) to contain the liquid or other coating substance which is to be applied to the traveling film by the coating roller II, the lower portion of which revolves within said trough.

Where the coating substance to be applied is in the form of a liquid, in order to keep said liquid at a proper level in the rough I99 so that the absorbent covering on the face of the coating roller ll will take up the proper amount of liquid to be applied to the traveling film and to replenish the said liquid constantly as the same is used up, I provide the bottle I92 which is attached to the front of the drying cabinet at a distance above the coating chamber. Said bottle is provided at its upper end with a removable air tight stopper I93 for purposes of both filling the bottle and preventing the ingress of any air into the bottle except as hereafter described. The lower end of said bottle communicates with the coating chamber B through the pet-cock I94 through the medium of a soft rubber tube I95 having a small diameter, preferably not larger than a quarter inch, and fitting tightly over a nipple on the pet-cock. At its lower end, the said rubber tube fits tightly over the upper end of the metal tube I96 held rigidly within the collar I91. The tube I96 is of sufficient length to extend down and in a slanting direction into the body of the liquid contained in the trough I99.

' Rigidly connected to said collar by the extension arm I98 is the cap I99 adapted to receive and hold securely the threaded rod I I9, the upper end of which is provided with a threaded portion of reduced diameter which extends through a hole in the top of the cap I99 and is held securely therein by the nut III. The collar I9? and the cap I99 are so connected by the extension arm I98 that the tube I96 and the threaded rod II9 are held in rigid parallel relationship one to the other. Cap I99 has fixed thereto an arm I99a which is slotted on one edge to receive the forward edge of the web 93 which thus operates as a guide to prevent any pivotal movement of the tube I96 about the threaded rod H9 and also acts as a gauge in conjunction with the calibrations II2 marked on said forward edge of the web 93 to indicate the depth to which the tube I96 extends down into the trough I99. The threaded rod II9 extends downward in a slanting direction through a bore in the hori zontal side member .54 which bore is of sufiicient diameter to permit the said threaded rod II9 to move freely therein and said bore at its upper end is of a wider diameter to receive the collar II3 which is held in revolvable position therein by the set screws H4 and H5, the ends of which engage an annulus in the outside of said collar. The upper portion of said collar is formed into a flange with a knurled edge II6 whereby it may be grasped and turned with the fingers. The inside bore of said collar is threaded to engage with the threads on the rod II9 so that when the said collar is turned, the rod I I9 moves either up or down, carrying with it the tube I96. Air entering at the lower end of the tube I96 will permit a portion of the liquid in the bottle to trickle downwards into the trough I99 until it has reached a level covering the lower end of the tube I96 after which no more liquid will flow from the bottle into the trough until after the liquid therein has been depleted to a level below the open end of the tube I96 when the liquid will again begin to flow until it has reached and covered the open end of the tube I96.

The course of travel of the film I through the said drying cabinet and the coating chamber, as indicated by the directional arrows in Fig. 1, is as follows:

The wet film as it comes from a washing tank having been subjected to a wringing operation to remove the excess of water from it, enters the drying cabinet at the rear through an opening located near the top of the cabinet and in line with the first idle roller on the shaft 28 over which roller it is led with the emulsion side of the film outermost down past one of the spacing rollers 34 and around the first of the driven rollers on the shaft I 5, thence upwards past the said spacing roller and around the next adjacent idle roller on the shaft 23, and so on progressively over the successive rollersvon the shafts I and 28 in a series of loops forming a spiral extending transversely across the drying cabinet. After passing over the last idle roller on the shaft 28, the film travels upwards and over the roller 33 and thence downward and over the first idle roller on the shaft 26 which said roller is in a line with said guide roller 33 and on the opposite side of the drying cabinet from that near which the film enters the cabinet. The film then proceeds in its spiral travel in the opposite direction across the width of the cabinet over successive upper and lower rollers on the shafts 39 and I1, respectively, over which it travels in a spiral direction toward the opposite side of the cabinet.

When the film in the course of its travel has passed over one of the lower rollers on the shaft I! which is in alignment with the guide roller 42 the film is carried up and over said guide roller 42 and thence downward under the guide roller 43 and into the coating chamber B through an opening in the front wall of the drying cabinet to and over the guide roller 41 and thence over and in contact with a portion of the face of the coating roller II which thus comes in contact with the emulsion side of the film. It then passes under the guide roller 94 and thus back into the drying cabinet and under and around the guide roller 96 and upwards and over a guide roller on the shaft 39 adjacent to the last roller in said shaft over which it passed before being guided into the coating chamber. The film then continues as before in its spiral travel and having passed over the last roller on the shaft so t passes out of the cabinet between the driven roller 1 and the idle pressure roller H1 in contact therewith, which rollers are positioned on the front of the said cabinet. Roller H1 is driven by means not shown consisting of a belt from a pulley on shaft H to a pulley connected to roller I I1, the said film being held securely in contact with the face of roller M1 by 'the spring pressed roller I I1 which presses upon the upper surface of the film I along its outside margins.

The film is then guided to and around a takeup reel which is indicated generally by the numeral H8. The said take-up reel may be driven by means not shown but which, however, are familiar to those skilled in the art, through a friction clutch or other means which permit the necessary amount of slip between the driving means and the reel itself so that the reel will revolve at progressively slower speeds as' the amount of film on the reel grows larger and thus maintain an even tension upon the film.

By means of the various gears and shafting hereinabove described, both the rollers on the shafts l5, l6 and H and the coating roller 1| are simultaneously driven by the shaft 90, the ratio and the arrangement of the gears being such that the driven rollers in the drying cabinet are driven at the same speed and the coating roller 1| is driven in a direction opposite to the travel of the film in contact with the facing 12 and the speed at which the coating roller 1| revolves relative to the speed of travel of the film is such that a coating roller of approximately four inches in diameter will make about two and one-half revolutions per one hundred feet of travel of the film, which relative speed will be constant regardless of the speed at which the film is driven. As the coating roller rel?) volves through the liquid or other coating substance in the trough I06, the absorbent material on its face takes up a portion and transfers it by a Wiping action to the film in contact with it, the extent of which contact as determined by :45 the lowermost position of the roller 41, I have found need not exceed a circular distance of about fifty degrees. The amount of the coating substance applied to the film by the coating roller 1| will, for the same speed of linear travel 50 of the film be proportional to the extent of contact of the film with said roller, and this extent of contact of the coating roller and the traveling film may be diminished, if required by the use of particular liquids or other coating substances, by merely elevating the roller 41 to the level where the desired extent of contact is obtained and without changing the speed of the traveling film. It is to be noted also that the coating roller may be driven in the same direction as the 60 travel of the film provided that their proper relative speeds are maintained to give the desired wiping action.

In my apparatus as heretofore described, I have shown meanswhereby the film may be 65 brought into or taken out of engagement with the coatingroller 1|, or the extent of such contact may be varied, and where so desired, the film may travel through the drier and coating N ,chamber to the take-up reel without a coating operation being performed upon it. By turning the crank and thus revolving the pinion 60 by means of the train of intermediate gears, the

bifurcated arm 52 ascends, elevating the bracket I 51 and the guide roller 41 to the position shown 75 in broken lines indicated by the numerals 51' and 41 thus raising the portion of the film between the guide'rollers 41' and 94 out of contact and away from'the coating roller 1|, or the guide roller 41 may be moved upward a shorter distance to a point where a desired lesser extent of contact is had between the coating roller 1| and the said film. The ratio and arrangement of the train of gears intermediate the pinion 60 and the crank 10 is such that, particularly in view of the use of the worm 66 and the worm gear 6|, the arm 52 remains rigidly fixed in whatever position it has been placed by rotating the crank 10 and may be changed therefrom only by the use of said crank. When it is desired to bring the traveling film into contact with the coating roller 1|, the crank handle is turned in the reverse direction, the bifurcated arm descends carrying with it the bracket 51 until the desired extent of contact obtains between the film and the coating roller or until further movement is stopped by the shoulder 58 coming into contact with the upper surface of the horizontal side member 54 which determines the maximum extent of contact between the coating roller and the surface of the film. In order, however, that the tension of the film shall not be changed by the change of position of the roller 41 to the position as at 41', or to any intermediate position, it is necessary that the length of film from the roller 43 around the roller 41 to the position of 41' will be a portion of an ellipse, modified, however, by the deflection of the course of the film where it is in contact with the coating roller 1|. I have found, however, that, in view of the length of film that will ordinarily obtain in the loop as it extends from the roller 43 over the roller 41 to the roller 94 and the short distance of travel of the roller 41 to the position as at 41, the direction of travel of said roller 41 in a straight line approximating the said portion of an ellipse will not involve any appreciable increase of tension or slack in the loop of film, and therefore, in accordance with the arrangement of the elements in the coating chamber above described the movement of the arm 52 is in a slightly oblique direction as shown in Fig. 3.

It will be noted by reference to Fig. 3 that in the position of greatest extent of contact of the film with the coating roller 1|, the lowest point on the periphery of the adjustable guide roller 41 is, as in the case of roller 94, substantially below the highest point on the periphery of the coating roller 1| and that the line of travel of the film from the adjustable guide roller 41 over the coating roller 1| for the distance therefrom to where it leaves said coating roller 1| is between the line of travel of the film from the roller 43 to the adjustable roller 41 and a line parallel thereto and tangent to the roller 41 at the point on its surface where the film leaves said roller 41, and that, with the adjustable roller in the position as at 41 the line of travel of the film from said roller to the roller 94 is outside a line parallel to the line of travel of the film from the roller 43 to the adjustable roller 41 and tangent to said roller 41 at the point where the film leaves said roller 41, and also that the line of departure of the film from the adjustable roller 41 in either of the said two positions of said roller or any intermediate position is not widely divergent from the line of travel thereto but forms an acute angle of less than degrees with the'aforementioned respective parallel lines in each of said two positions of the adjustable roller 41. The result of the described relative positions of the respective rollers 43, 41, H and 94 is that with the adjustable roller 41 in its lower position the film will have a substantial extent of contact with the surface of the coating roller H and may be wholly removed from said contact by a comparatively short upward movement of the bracket 5'! carrying the adjustable roller 47, while at the same time the tension on the film remains unchanged. A further result is that the guide roller 43 is so positioned that the film enters the coating chamber at the same side and at a level not far above the level at which it leaves, thus making for compactness in the size of the coating chamber which need be of no greater height than is necessary to house the several rollers and mechanism located therein.

To provide for the use of a coating substance giving off an unpleasant odor or noxious gas, I have provided a vent pipe H9 communicating with the interior of the coating chamber B at or near the top and extending upwards through the drying cabinet adjacent the front wall whereby such odors and gases may be carried to the outside air or otherwise away from the room in which the apparatus is located.

The number of sets of rollers and the number of rollers in each set, as well as the distance between each set of upper and lower rollers in the drying cabinet, may be, of course, varied, it being only necessary that they be sufficient in number in order that the film be in a proper state of dryness at the point where it is led into the coating chamber and in order that the film after it has been coated may again remain in the drying cabinet long enough for the coating to become properly dried and the film in condition to be wound upon the takeup heel. Obviously the specific construction of my invention as illustrated and described may be varied in many respects without departing from the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a fihn coating machine, a coating roller, a receptacle for containing a coating substance, said roller being positioned part way in said receptacle and adapted to rotate therein, a guide roller adapted to guide a travelingfilm to another and adjustable guide roller, which last named roller is adapted to guide said film over a portion of the face of said coating roller to another guide roller adapted to cooperate with said adjustable guide roller in maintaining said film selectively in and out of contact with a portion of the face of said coating roller, means for driving said coating roller and guiding means for moving said adjustable guide roller from a position where the film is in contact with the face of said coating roller to a position where the film is out of contact with said coating roller and wherethe distance as measured along said film from said first mentioned guide roller to said third mentioned guide roller is substantially the same as in said first position, said guiding means comprising a supporting bracket for said adjustable guide roller slidably mounted in a guide formed in said machine.

2. In a film coating machine, a coating roller, a receptacle for containing a coating substance, said roller being positioned part way in said receptacle and adapted to rotate therein, a guide roller adapted to guide a traveling film to another and adjustable guide roller, which last named roller is adapted to guide said film over a portion of the face of said coating roller to another guide roller adapted to cooperate with said adjustable guide roller in maintainingsaid film selectively in and out of contact with a portion of the face of said coating roller, means for driving said coating roller and guiding means for moving said adjustable guide roller from a position where the film is in contact with the face of said coating roller to a position where the film is out of contact with said coating roller and where the distance as measured along said film from said first mentioned guide roller around said adjustable guide roller to said third mentioned guide roller is substantially the same as in said first position, said guiding means comprising a supporting bracket for said adjustable roller formed with a toothed arm slidably positioned in a guide and a gear connected to said toothed arin.

FRANK LA GRANDE. 

